Abraham - I AM, I WILL, I HAVE

Don't separate sonship and inheritance, don't separate righteousness from faith, or promise from assurance, or suffering from blessing. This is the way God meets our needs as we trust Him and let Him have His way.

How grateful we are, Father, that Your Word indeed is a light, a lamp in this dark world. How we need direction, and Your Word is there to guide us. And now may the unfolding of Your Word produce light, and may this light shine in our minds and hearts, and may we be filled with the light, and then may we share that light with others, I pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Genesis 15 is a pivotal chapter in the Bible. In fact, there are in this chapter seven new words or phrases that are not found anywhere in the first fourteen chapters. We find the phrase "the word of the Lord came" in Genesis 15:1. That phrase is used oh, about 245 times in the Old Testament in one way or another. It's good to know the Word of God comes to the people of God to help them when they need help. And then the phrase "fear not" in Genesis 15:1. The Lord said, "Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward." God tells him, "Don't be afraid," and that's the beginning of a great series of promises throughout the Bible where God tells us now, "Don't be afraid." 

Then the word "reward" is used in Genesis 15:1 for the first time in Scripture, and there's a great deal in the Bible about reward. He's talking here, of course, about God being our reward. He is our protection—our shield—and He is our provision—our exceedingly great reward. The word "heir" and the word "inherit" are used for the first time, and they are very important. Abram is concerned about having a son who could inherit, and then that that son could beget other children and the nation could be built. We're going to talk about what it means to be a son and an heir. 

Then the word "believed" is used for the first time in Genesis 15:6. He believed in the Lord, and He, the Lord, accounted it to him for righteousness, put it on his account, credited it to him if you please, so that the righteousness of God was imputed, put on the account of Abraham. That's what happens when you trust the Lord. When you trust Jesus Christ as your Savior, God takes your account, He looks at it and says, "Well, you're bankrupt, but I will put My Son's righteousness on your account," and it never will change. The word "counted" in Genesis 15:6, or "accounted," is used for the first time in the Bible. It's a very important concept, how that God keeps books. He's an accountant, and He is watching our lives, and when you trust Christ as your Savior, He wipes the record clean and, as I said before, He puts to your account the righteousness of Christ. And in Genesis 15:6, you have for the first time the word "righteousness" used in the Bible. 

So Genesis 15 is a very pivotal chapter, and God is dealing with Abraham's emotions. Emotions should not be repressed—they only create problems—or always expressed. Sometimes we should express our emotions, love and so forth, but we really ought to just take our emotions and give them to the Lord. Let Him possess them and let Him use them for His glory. God helps Abraham with his fear by saying, "I am." He helps Abraham with his impatience by saying, "I will." And then He helps Abraham with his uncertainty by saying, "I have." In Genesis 15:7-21, Abraham is uncertain about the inheritance of the land. Genesis 15:8, "Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?" 

Notice now that the nation and the land go together. If there's going to be a nation, they have to have a land. If there's going to be a nation, Abraham has to be the one who starts the nation. And so these three entities hang together in Genesis 15. Abraham is afraid—suppose the four kings come back and attack him? What's going to happen then to the future? God says, "Abraham, don't be afraid, I'm going to watch over you." In fact, in Genesis 15:15, He said, "You'll go to your fathers in peace, you'll be buried at a good old age," and this was true. He lived what, 90 more years to be 175.

Well, Abraham was going to produce an heir and that heir would produce a nation, and God talks about the nation in Genesis 15:13. "Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years." He's talking, of course, about the bondage in Egypt. Now the nation was built in Egypt. The nation was built through suffering. The nation was not built through pampering. Nations are not built through pampering—they are ruined that way. Affluence has a way of just eating out the heart of a nation. The nation of Israel was built through suffering in the furnace of affliction. 

God said they'll be delivered from that land and they will return to Canaan, to the land that God gives to Abram. And Genesis 15:18, "On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: 'To your descendants I have given this land.'" Notice now the statement of fact, "I have given this land." You see, in Genesis 12:1, God said, "I will show you the land. Get out of your country, from your kindred, from your father's house, to a land that I will show you." Abraham left home without a forwarding address. He didn't know where he was going; he was walking by faith. The first promise was "I will show you," then Genesis 13:15, "I will give you, for all the land which you see I give to you." Genesis 13:17, "Arise, walk through the land... I will give it to you." Now He says, "I have given it to you." It is yours. And we better remember that that land belongs to God's people, Israel. 

Now, when we are uncertain about the future, when we're uncertain about what God is doing, what do we hold on to? We hold on to God's covenant. Genesis 15:18, "On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: 'To your descendants I have given this land.'" By making a covenant, He gave Abraham the assurance that what He says is true. God being God, He cannot lie. Now Abraham did not enter into this covenant or have one bit of work to do to get it—he was sound asleep. We read in Genesis 15:12, "a deep sleep fell upon Abram." Here he's going through this horror of a great darkness. Here is an emotional experience to end all emotional experiences. He was in the tunnel and couldn't see the light, and then the light showed up. Genesis 15:17, "It came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there was a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces." The image here is that of one of the portable ovens that the Semitic people used, the nomads, as they traveled from place to place. They would put hot coals, fire, inside this portable oven. Sometimes the flames would come up through the top and it looked like a torch, and then as this oven got hot, they would put their bread on the outside of the oven and there it would bake. Now that's what Abraham saw. It's a picture of God. God in His purity and God in His power—our God is a consuming fire. 

So here we have this smoking furnace, this burning torch. Abraham sees it going between the pieces of the sacrifice. Now Abraham didn't walk between the pieces of those animals that he cut in half; God did. This covenant was not a contract. Abraham didn't sign one line and God signed the other line and they say, "Okay, we're making a contract." Oh no, it was not a contract. It was a covenant. God made a covenant with Abram and said, "I have given this land to you," and this covenant does not depend upon either your faith or your faithfulness. I'm doing it. Even if you believe not, I'm going to abide faithful. God's answer is, "I have." 

Now God is the God of covenants. As you read through your Bible, you're going to find a number of covenants. He made a covenant with Noah, made a covenant with David, with the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai, there's the New Covenant in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is a God of covenants. Now that to me is marvelous, that God in His grace should make a covenant with me. Who am I that God should make a covenant with me? Who was Abraham that God should make a covenant with him? But you see, it solved his problem of uncertainty. When you find yourself wavering and somewhat uncertain, listen to the Word of God. Genesis 15:13, "Then He said to Abram: 'Know certainly...'" God gave him assurance and certainty. 

There are three emotions you and I have to learn how to deal with as we walk by faith. God does not deny our emotions; rather, God wants to take our emotions and use them for His glory. Fear is a good emotion if it's used properly. It's like fire in the furnace—fire's a marvelous thing in the furnace; get it outside the furnace, you have trouble. Fear can be used properly, and so can impatience. We can learn how to wait, and so can uncertainty. We can learn how to be sure as we walk with the Lord. 

So just remember these three phrases, will you? When you're afraid, God says, "I am." I am your shield, I am your reward. When you are impatient, God says, "I will." And my problem is, when I get impatient, I say, "I will," and God says, "No, I'm the one that says I will, and I'll take care of it, don't worry about it." When we get uncertain, let's remember God says, "I have." I have made My covenant. Hold on to My covenant; My covenant is never going to fail. 

Now before we leave Genesis 15, I'd like to survey it and point out some important factors that must stay together. The Lord Jesus said, "What God has joined together, let not man put asunder." Now that applies not only in marriage, it applies in other things as well. There are a number of important couplings here in Genesis 15, if I may use that word, and we must not separate them. First of all, we must not separate sonship and heirship. If you're going to have an heir, that heir should be a son. You see, Abram's concerned about having an heir. Genesis 15:2, "Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" Abram said, "Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir." Don't separate birth and inheritance. 

Now God came along and said, "This one, Eliezer, shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir." God has joined together sonship and inheritance. Now this is true with us as Christians. May I read to you from Romans 8, and oh let's begin at say Romans 8:14. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together." Paul tells us that sonship and inheritance go together. 

Now Abraham did not get this inheritance by good works. He didn't get it by keeping the law—the law had not been given yet. He did not get it by going through some religious ritual—circumcision was not established until years later. He got it by faith. He became one of God's inheritors by faith, and so must you and I. Don't separate sonship and inheritance. Peter tells us that we are born again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you. How did you get that? By being born. Now if you want a future inheritance in heaven, you've got to be born into God's family. If you want to enjoy a spiritual inheritance now, you've got to be a member of God's family. Don't divorce, don't separate sonship and heirship, inheritance. 

Secondly, you cannot separate righteousness and faith. Genesis 15:6, "He believed in the Lord, and He, the Lord, accounted it to him for righteousness." Now righteousness is what God demands. It's not a hint, it's not a suggestion; God demands righteousness. God says in His Word, "Be holy, for I am holy." God says, "I will not let you into My heaven unless you are righteous." Well, how are we going to get righteous? Not by good intentions, not by good works, not by ceremonies. How do we become righteous before God? Well, Genesis 15:6 tells us, "He believed in the Lord, and the Lord accounted it to him for righteousness." 

I've pointed out in a previous study that this verse is quoted three times in the New Testament. The emphasis on the word "believed" is in Galatians 3:6. The theme of Galatians is we are not saved by good works, by keeping the Sabbath, by obeying certain rules and regulations. We are saved by faith. The emphasis on "counted" is in Romans 4, where Paul tells us that God is keeping the account, and He puts on our account the righteousness of Christ when we believe on Him. James 2:23 emphasizes "righteousness." James says it's not enough to say I'm justified before God by my faith; I must prove this by my works. We are not saved by faith plus works; we are saved by a faith that leads to works. He believed in the Lord. Don't separate righteousness and faith. You say, "Well, I'm righteous before God." How did you get that way? "Well, I'm a good boy, I'm a good girl, I do my best, I pay my bills." My Bible says all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in His sight. We must have faith in Christ or there cannot be righteousness. 

Now thirdly, you dare not separate promise and assurance. Abraham said, "How shall I know?" Now God wants us to have assurance. In fact, in Colossians, Paul tells us he wants us to have the full assurance. God does not want His children to be wandering around wondering what is going on. He wants them to know that they are His children. He wants them to know that He is working on their behalf. God doesn't explain everything to us, but God wants us to know the certainty of what we believe. It's really amazing how many professed Christians have no certainty. Years ago, someone gave me a little booklet called Safety, Certainty, and Enjoyment, and I think it's still in print, and it's a marvelous little booklet. You can be saved and not have assurance, but God wants you to have assurance. And Abraham said, "I want to be sure." How did God give him assurance? Through His covenant and His promise. 

God said it, I believe it, that settles it. That's where faith comes in. How did Abraham know that the nation was going to be built? God said so. How did Abraham know that the nation would be protected during its years, its centuries of suffering? God said that they would. How did Abraham know he would die in a good old age in peace? God told him so. How did Abraham know that the nation would return to the Promised Land and claim it as their inheritance? God told him so. You see, it's really as simple as that. As we believe the Word of God and rest on His covenant, then we don't have to worry—we have assurance. We have the assurance of God's person: "I am." We have the assurance of God's promise: "I will." We have the assurance of God's covenant: "I have." And when Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood, He wrote, as it were, in His blood the new covenant that God can never rescind and that God can never violate. 

Finally, there is another connection, another linkage in this chapter that I think is important: we dare not separate suffering and blessing. Did you notice that the nation was going to have to suffer? Genesis 15:13, "they will afflict them four hundred years"—that's a round figure. Genesis 15:16, "in the fourth generation"—another round figure. Paul tells us in Galatians 3 it was 430 years, but we're not going to make a big issue over that; He's talking in round figures here. He's saying that they're going to go through four centuries of suffering, and they did. And yet that was the making of them. What was it that made the nation of Israel? Their suffering. We don't believe that today. We think that God makes great Christians and great leaders and great churches by pampering them. We hear a great deal about success and health and wealth these days. Well, my Bible tells me that God says that they have to go through the furnace of affliction. And yet when they go through the furnace, God is with them. 

When it was dark, Abraham saw the stars, Genesis 15:5. When it was dark, Abraham saw that torch, that light of God passing between the pieces of the sacrifice. And then he heard the voice of God say, "I have given you this land." Don't separate sonship and inheritance, don't separate righteousness from faith, or promise from assurance, or suffering from blessing. This is the way God meets our needs as we trust Him and let Him have His way.